Vehicle headlight



Mar. 3. 1925. 1,528,279-

A. TOLMAN VEHI CLE HEADLIGHT Filed March 24, 1924 Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

UNITED 's'rA'rE s ARTHUR TOLMAN, or nnmaroN; ENGLAND.

vnmcna nmmmen'r.

Application filed March 24, 1924. Serial No. 701344.

To all whom it may concemn Be it known thatl, ARTHUR ToLMAN, a subject of the Kin of Great Britain, resrdv ing at Brighton, ussex, England, have 1n- I vented new and useful Improvements in and Connected with Vehicle Headlights, of which the following is a'specification.

This infiengion relates 1to vehicle beagli hts of t e i ping or ti ting type provi ed with horizdiltal plates dis osed within the body of the headlight an adapted to obscure the source of hght at the normal angle of vision when the lamp is dipped or tilted. a

The maximum angle of tilt of a dipping. 'or tiltin headlight is to a certain extent arbitrari y fixed by considerations of safety, inasmuch as each degree of tilt narrows the area illustrated from a maximum when the 2 beam of light is horizontal to a minimum when the beam--is cast upon the ground immediately'in the front of the vehicle by the excessive dippling or tilting of the headlight.

In headh plates of narrow width, for example one inch, so that in order to wholly obscure the source of light when viewed at the normal an 1e of vislon, it is necessary for the same a to e widely s aced .to tilt the headlight in a downward irection through a comparatively wide an le of as much as To decrease the ang e of tilt with the use of these narrow plates it was found necessary howal ever to place such plates close together, for example 0.05 inch apart. This however has the effect of seriously reducing the illuminating ower ofthe projected light beam. The 0 ject of the present invention is to 40 provide a headlight of the type specified by means of which the light source is totally obscured when viewed at the normal angle of vision with a relatively small angle of tilt on the headlight for example about 10,

'45 and with the use of comparatively widely spaced lates or shelves the dimming efiect of whic on the illuminating power of the projected light beam is practically nil.

. With this'object in view the resent invention consists broadly of a ipping or tilting headli ht having a lurality of comparatively wi ely spaced p ates in the form of superim osed shelves of substantial depth disposed within the body of the headlight'in ts of the type to which this 2 invention re ers it has' been proposed to use front of the reflector and behind the front 6 g ass. i y i As the depth of these lates or shelves cannot be too great it will e found convenient in ractice to make the same of such a depth t at they extend from the forward edge of the reflector to as close as possible to the inside face of the usual front glass.

I wish it to be understood that no claim is made to the use of shelves as above defined per se but only when used or intended to be used in combination with headlights of the dippingor tilting type.

' In order that the invention may be clearl understood an embodiment of the same wi 1 now be described by aid of the accompanyini drawings in which igure 1 is a erspective sectional view of a motor headlight according to this invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same showin the trunnion supports permitting the b0 y of the headlight to be tilted.

The headlight illustrated in the drawin comprises a metal body a which is slight y deeper than conventional form to accommodate the obscuring device. This device in the form illustrated consists of a metal cylinder 5 containing a plurality of thin metal or other shelves 0 arranged horizontally one above the other at a substantial distance 86 apart, which shelves ma have reflective under-surfaces or be dead lack on both sides. These shelves are, in the example shown, of the same,- depth from front to back as the cylinder 6 containing them and such" cylinder in turn is of such a' depth and diameter as to permit the same to be located within .the body a with its rear edge abutting against the front edge d of the reflector e and its front edge which is preferably flanged as at f, abutting against the inside face of the front glass 9. The cylinder 6 is held in place by reason of its flange 7 being nlpped etween the front thickened edge h of the body a and the front glass 9. The glass 9 in turn is held in position by a screwed or other ring 2' and an interposed resilient washer y.

The reflector 6 may be held in position by belng nipped between the two halves of the lam socket 70, as shown.

T e body a is mounted between the furcations of a forked bracket 2 by which it is supported through the medium of trunnions m which permit the body a to be tilted about their axes. This tilting movement may be effected from the .drivers seat through the medium of a Bowden Wire connection 92 or other suitable means. A spring 0 is provided to return the body a to its normal position when the tilting means are released.

In consequence of the comparatively great depth of the plates 0 a very small angle of tilt imparted to the body a is sufficient to cause, the. light source to be totally obscured at the normal angle of'vision this preventing dazzling Without unduly reducing the area of ground illuminated.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,

and in what manner same is to be perg formed, I declare that, what I claim is A headlight comprising a' casing, a support for said casing comprising a pair of pivots about which the casing can. turn as a Whole in a vertical plane, a reflector in said casing, a lens at the front of the casing, a cylinder arranged in the casing between the lens and the reflector, widely spaced horizontal plates in the cylinder, said plates extending the full depth from the lens to the reflector, and means for moving the casing about its pivots so as to tilt the headlight as a Whole.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ARTHUR TOLMAN. 

